1975 Ghostbusters!
With the re-release of the classic Real Ghostbuster figures, I suddenly had access to some custom fodder, and finally decided to create modern versions of the 1975 Ghost Busters….much like my Tracy costume.
A couple of Rays provided the bodies for Kong and Tracy, with a planet of the Apes head from the flea market topping off my monkey. I dremmeled open the chest, to make it look like the jumpsuits are unzipped. I then painted the GB symbol on Tracy and a collegiate sports looking 75 on Kong, reminisant of the shirts Forrest Tucker wore on the show.
To create Kong’s hat, I made a mold of a Fozzie bear hat, then cast it in hot glue, attaching it to his head while warm.
Finally, I scuffed up a Venkman, dremmeling up his hair to give him a center part and aged up his face with some paint, then hot guled him up a tie. To make him disctinct, and more like Larry Storch’s Spencer I repainted his jumpsuit blue. I see a lot more of these blue overalls on the clearance isles, and throwing it in with the tan ones really works well.
Finally, I really wanted them to have a “pet”, like Slimer, but more schlocky….a Killer tomato is just the trick! I carry one around when I do Kong, and I already had a recipie for creating hot glue ones, using a mold made from the jack-o-lantern that came with the Toony Terrors Michael Myers figure.
Here they are….Ghostbusters 1975!
Creating Critters
It had actually been on my mind since I spotted one at a horror con. I saw a stuffed critter and thought “I bet I could make something like that…I wonder what it would take?”
Up at the craft store I grabbed a pelt of black fur – one of those small packs that cost about four dollars. I already knew I had some white hairspray to add depth and some model magic at home for the face, so off I went.
After sewing up the pelt in a sort of dome shape, I stuffed it with fiber fill and glued a flat foam disk to the bottom so he could stand. Then I blasted it with the hair color. I’d had a hard time deciding what color fur to go with, but ultimately decided n a flat black that I could alter and color myself. The cheap white hairspray from halloween clearance worked perfectly, not only giving me a better streaked color, but also helping blow back the fur and sweeping it all back. I then cut some foam, curving and smoothing it with the dremmel, and rolled little claws to stick on with glue and toothpicks for support.
Next up was to sculpt the face. I ended up pressing the upper face and lower jaw seperately, then rolled each tooth individually. It’s tedious, but the only way I could really figure.
I finally painted the face and glued it on to the body. I like him well enough, but he looks a little surprised by something….and the more I’d look at the posters, the more it bothered me that the smile wasn’t quite long and sharp enough. I decided I needed to try again. After all, critters travel in packs and just one really wasn’t enough.
This time around I really squished the face, leaning into the curves and exaggerating the length of the grin.
Having done it once already, things went quicker, allowing me for more experimentation, and I ended up with a much nicer looking critter!
Tune back in next week for photos!
Toyhio 12 Fully Loaded! (Winter 2022)
It was another record year attendance for Toyhio this winter. For the first time, I ended up actually having to stand in line for admission. Not a long line, certainly not as long as the two other lines pressed flat around the wall and winding into the halls. Some of this increase in attendance can probably be attributed to the wrestling guests that Toyhio brought in this time. It’s something they’ve been dabbling with, slowly increasing that guest list. I don’t know wrestling, so I don’t know these people. I don’t know if they’re local or national or what. But if you know, they’re bringing in the attendees. As I came in, I was worried that those were the lines to get into the actual vendors hall, but as I headed down the side passage, looking for the entrance, I suddenly found myself in one of the back rooms full of vendors. That’s when I realized how smart these lines were. They weren’t doing a lot to block up traffic, and the convention has done a good job of accommodating this new crowd.
For my part, I was there to look and see what I could find. Maddie had decided she didn’t want to brave the long drive just to hit a vendors room, but we texted back-and-forth with me sending her pictures of various pops and figures that I was encountering. Vendors were very accommodating about letting me take photos and check in with her before buying stuff. Obviously, I’m not the first one they’d seen doing this today. Madeline actually ended up spending almost as much money as I did in this, basically her baptism into the world of scalpers.
While Pops do dominate the landscape, I noticed a significant increase in the volume of Masters of the Universe this year. I don’t know what’s driving that, perhaps the resurgence of the brand as Mattel tries to put out as many toys as possible before they lose the license. Masters of the Universe was so prevelant there, that the one and only cosplayer I saw happened to be one of the Masters! Well, kind of… A young woman dressed in a stunning Orko costume greeted me almost immediately after I found my way into the dealers room. I love the blue wig, it just sets the whole thing off perfectly. It was also a pretty good omen for just how much he-man stuff I was going to see today.
bins. I spied a New Adventure is power sword and shield at one point which completely baffled me.
missing harness for my vintage Kloppy. 
go), but what was intresting was I had one of those moments of clarity as I found a Blue Lion in a bin. He was beat up but still in pretty good shape (enough I could still restore it), and affordably priced. I held him and thought about it for a moment….”Do I REALLY want to get started down this path????” Buying him means I’d have to go fo the collection. The other four lions IN THIS SCALE (which probably wouldn’t be as cheap) as well as figures to ride in them….. I put him back.
Toyhio is where you go to find interesting stuff. Sometimes wierd things….I mean, where else are you going to encounter two bins stuffed full of Joker and Green lantern plushies respectively? Where else could you search through the endless shelves of toys and figures and cars and wierd THINGS and suddenly look up and spot the chaingun from Terminator 2?
style doll – but not Raggedy Ann. No, this one was ANNIE. Very strange. In one of the other chambers I spied a vintage car for the dolls that accompanied the 80’s film release (and let me tell, you, back in the day I was OBSESSED with that movie -even before I understood who Tim Curry or Carol Burnett were!) I couldn’t bring myself to pull the rigger on either (No idea where or how I’d display them and I’d hate for them to go in a basement crate when there might be someone here who would buy it and love it), but it was so fascinating to actually see these things.
In addition to spying that limo, way back in one of the other far corners I found what may have been my favorite treasure of the day. There in the middle of one of the tables was a hologram card of the Toxic Avenger (this particular one was from the cartoon, but nevertheless). It was such a ridiculous find that I couldn’t resist slapping a dollar down on the table and smiling like a maniac. You have my permission to be envious.
ear in a barrel. Also what looks like a vinyl piece from one of those big collected boxes you occasionally see at places like the Disney store or the record store. It was a Walter from the Muppets movie a while back. A quarter is good enough for me to get him so that I can toss him up in my Muppet backstage, And make him turn around into a corner so that all the other Muppets can shun him. It’s childish, I know. But we ARE talking about toys.
at one of the stands, as I wandered through the vast labyrinth of toys. I was shocked when I looked down at my watch and realized I’d been hunting for treasure through the endless aisles and corridors for nearly 3 hours. It’s such a great market place with an enormous amount of sensory overload… It’s enough to make you lose track of time. It’s one of the reasons why I really enjoy Toyhio and continue to brave the long drive out to the show.
Creating Tomatoes
I can’t really pinpoint when or why I decided to build my Killer Tomatoes. I know I was watching the films….probably for a franchise focus or something, and I’ve always loved the last one.
I noticed that as the Halloween stuff was going up at Dollar Tree, they were selling styrofoam pumpkins…labeled as “Carvable”. Sometime it’s a shape that will really strike me, and in this case it was the general shape, proportion and size. It occurred to me that they would be the ideal size if I were to try and make a tomato.
I drew what I wanted, basing the shapes on the ones in the fourth movie mainly. The gal would then be to dremmel the curves and shapes into place. Bits would be added here and there, glue for the stitches and foam for an eyepatch or teeth, and then everythign painted over.
We can’t just have the villians though, if I’m making tomatoes, I really need a Fuzzy Tomato too! FT was simple enough, grabbing my kids old Elmo costume out of the attic, then sewing it up, and covering the gap with leaves and a stem.
I ended up making a few FTs, one t give away to a friend and one to give away to Marc Price, the star of Killer Tomatoes Eat France!
Tune back in for more pictures!
Argo City Comics 